Rashed Al Shashai

The Cities of Conviction group exhibition is on at Salt Lake City’s Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA), opening August 25 and running to January 6, 2018.

Curated by Jared Steffensen, the show features work by Saudi contemporary artists, including Rashed Al Shashai, Telfaz11, Abdullah Al-Othman, Abdulnasser Gharem, Ahmed Mater, Arwa Alneami, Musaed Al Hulis, Nasser Al Salem and more. It will explore the “parallels between spiritual and urban cultures in Saudi Arabia and Utah; and especially the symbolism of creativity that connects cities of pilgrimage in both places.”

Looking at common histories, community, conservation and faith among many other subjects, the artists — that also include Balqis AlRashed, Nugamshi, Dana Awartani, Ghada Al Rabea, Khalid Bin Afif, Khalid Zahid, Lina Gazzaz, Masameer, Moath Alofi, Nouf Alhimiary, Qamar Abdulmalik, and Yusef Alahmad — will respond to what Steffensen describes as a ‘timely’ topic.

Visit the UMOCA website for details.**

Qamar Abdulmalik, ‘Asylum of Dreams’ (2017) Courtesy the artist

The GENERA#ION group exhibition is on at San Francisco’s Minnesota Street Project, opening August 11 and running to September 6.

The show presents fifteen contemporary artists from Saudi Arabia in the Californian city who will “address cultural norms and taboos and their social impact”. Artists include Sarah Abu Abdallah, Telfaz 11, Dhafer Al Sheri, Rashed Al Shashai, Shaweesh, Nugamshi, Masameer, Ajlan Gharem, Abdulnasser Gharem, Manal Al Dowayan, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Dana Awartani, Ahmad Angawi, Njoud Alanbari, and Ahaad Alamoudi.

The press release states, that in traveling to the U.S. at this time, the artists are “defying mainstream expectations, reaching out directly to bridge one of the most contested political and ideological borders of our time”.

GENERA#ION is the third stop of the multi-city Saudi artist tour of the United States, beginning earlier this summer as PARALLEL KINGDOM at the Station Museum in Houston, Texas, before traveling to Aspen, Colorado. Aiming to “generate people-to-people dialogue and better understanding between the two nations”, the tour will continue to Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine and other cities across the United States.

See the Minnesota Street Project website for more details.**

Sarah Abu Abdallah, 'The Salad Zone' (2013). Video still. Courtesy the artist. — Sarah Abu Abdallah, ‘The Salad Zone’ (2013). Video still. Courtesy the artist.

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Spiritual parallels connecting Saudi Arabia + Utah in Cities of Conviction at UMOCA, Aug 25 – Jan 6

GENERA#ION @ Minnesota Street Project, Aug 11- Sep 6